|
EOFY
wave Sunday |
|
29-Jun-14 |
|
|
|
It
was the last scheduled CGC flying day for the
Financial Year and, after overnight rain, we were
greeted by a crisp sunny morning with 8/8ths blue
sky.
|
|
|
|
The
Daily Flight Sheet attests to the fact that the day
did not look too promising to start with ... the first launch
was off RYW 24 at 10.55 (consistent with the general "no rush" approach
we took to the task of setting up CGC's operations
for the day).
|
|
|
|
The Duty Crew of Mick Moloney, Kevin
Rodda, Alan Graham and John "Scrubby"
Ashford were assisted by Chris Weir (who was there
bright and early to fly the
Libelle) and Bernard "Speedy" Gonsalves (who
called in to YCAB only to round up some starters to
accompany him for "second breakfast" at
Macca's while planning to head back to do some work at
home). Bert Persson turned up in time for "second
breakfast" and Peter John joined us at the flight
line later in the
afternoon.
|
|
|
|
The
big reward for us all was the EXCELLENT WAVE LIFT that
was experienced today!
|
|
|
|
|
a thoroughly
thrilled Liz Hannan back on terra firma after her air
experience flight
|
|
|
|
On
the second flight of the day, Scrubby towed AEF
passenger Liz Hannan and me in CQC to 4,500ft directly
to the north of the airfield where we released into fairly rough air
that I had mistaken for thermal activity. We very soon
after however discovered that the turbulent air that
we had felt on tow was actually a wave
rotor (see the diagrams below).
|
|
|
|
|
thermal lift (above)
versus
wave lift (below)
|
|
|
|
|
today there were no clouds to assist in
finding the wave lift
|
|
|
|
Initially
we lost height very quickly to 4,000 ft as we headed
upwind to the west ... skirting around the outside
of the 3,500ft step to where it meets the Bruce Hwy.
We were flying into what was a fairly strong wind
at that height ... and suddenly we were in it, WAVE that
is, one of a glider pilot's dreams come true!
|
|
|
|
We
then headed in
a straight line to the north-west (roughly parallel to the
mountains that are situated to the west of Caboolture) in beautifully
smooth, strong and consistent wave lift until we were
over Mt Tunbubudla (commonly known as "The
Twins") at the outer edge of the 4,500ft ceiling
area. For most of that time we had to reduce speed
to crack open the airbrakes to prevent CQC climbing
through the 4,500ft ceiling to commit an airspace
infringement!
|
|
|
|
As
I explained to Liz, she was extremely fortunate to be
experiencing on her very
first glider flight a relatively rare occurrence of
good wave lift at Caboolture ... something that many of
our regular student and solo pilots would not yet have
experienced.
|
|
|
|
|
Liz Hannan receives her Air Experience Flight
certificate from Kevin Rodda
|
|
|
|
Earlier,
before
heading off with Liz for our flight in CQC, I had put
heaps of pressure on
Speedy to postpone his "home chores"
and take my K6 "Romeo Victor" for a fly (she was already
at the flight line and ready to fly). It was good to
hear the radio calls and to see Speedy (aero-tow) and Bert
(self-launched) also up in the air while we were up in CQC.
|
|
|
|
The
star pilot of the day was also the oldest glider pilot of
the day ... Bert Persson with a 3 hrs 17 mins flight! Bert
reported when he got back that (after initially heading across to the west of Caboolture under power
through what he had recognised as rotor turbulence)
he had found strong WAVE LIFT and DID NOT THERMAL ONCE IN
HIS ENTIRE FLIGHT.
|
|
|
|
Bert in
his TST-10M motor glider "India Mike" had climbed to over 8,000 ft
and was well on the way to
Gympie before turning back (probably as part of an
underlying plan to not miss out on an afternoon
de-briefing at Macca's).
|
|
|
|
Similarly,
the star glider of the day was also the oldest glider of
the day ... the 1963 built ES-KA6 "Romeo
Victor". Speedy flew the longest aero-tow flight
of the day in her (1 hr 13 mins) in a combination of
wave and thermal lift. I flew the second longest areo-tow
flight of the day in her much later in the day (in
scratchy thermal lift close in and to the north-east of the
airfield).
|
|
|
|
Chris
Weir had an enjoyable flying day with three flights in
"Yankee Kilo" (30 mns, 41 mns and 53 mns)
and Alan Graham took friend Alan Pawley up in CQC
(34 mns).
|
|
|
|
John
Ashford made full use of Peter John's visit to the
flight line at the end of the day. He arranged for PJ to replace
him in the tug so that he could take
an annual glider check flight under the instruction of
Mick Moloney (14 mns).
|
|
|
|
All
up we had eight aero-tow flights for a total of 3 hrs
3 mns (CQC three flights for 2hrs 4mns, GJY three
flights for 1 hr 24 mns and GRV two flights for 2 hrs
20 mns).
|
|
|
|
It
was a really fun flying day to
end the Financial Year ... with some very nice company
(including Liz's moral support crew) ... on a cloudless but comfortably warm winter's day.
Life
just doesn't get much
better than that!
|
|
|
|
|
Kevin
Rodda
|
|
for
DUTY PILOT Alan Graham (in
recognition of and with many thanks for the great job
that Alan did all day in assisting Duty Instructor
Mick Moloney in organising the ground operations for
us!)
|
|
|
